


Goodnight Starscream

by sinousine



Category: Transformers (Unicron Trilogy), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 10:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11598291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinousine/pseuds/sinousine
Summary: Jets are wonderful companions, full of personality. Sadly, even with the greatest care, they do not live forever.





	Goodnight Starscream

In the late afternoon the land was bathed in gold, the hazy dark sea sparkling in the sun. Long, blue shadows were creeping across the white buildings on the hill. It seemed the entire world was bathed in magic.

Unicron and Starscream were seated in a white marble courtyard, feeling sea air on their metal skin. The two of them were drapped with silks and wreathes of stately precious metal leaves that swayed gently in the breeze. Unicron was half of Starscream's size today, large for a minicon, but much shorter and thinner than the jet.

Columns of stone towered around them, overgrown with jewelled vines. They tinkled lightly in the air, like wind chimes. Everywhere, the land was lush and alive with shades of gold, emerald, and peridot.

Starscream lay back in his recliner, letting the minicon feed him crystal grapes. Each one was a burst of sour sweet on his tongue. He savored the taste, sucking it down slowly.

His body felt heavy, arms and legs like concrete pillars. and he felt like he could lay down and sleep forever. He focused on eating from Unicron's hands.

Beside the platter of grapes was a tiny pitcher of nectar. Unicron lifted the pitcher to Starscream's mouth so he could drink. The amber liquid was gentle and sweet in his throat, like drinking in the warm afternoon.

"The nectar of the Gods," Starscream had thought.

"It's so peaceful here, Starscream. I could stay here forever," the minicon remarked, leaning against the armrest. His minicon voice was high and chimelike. Down below, sail ships floated in the green water. "As long as you're with me."

Starscream seemed a little more haggard than usual, his dark grey face furrowed. There were wrinkles under his red-orange eyes. He slumped back in the recliner, dimming them.

All these years, and Starscream was still so handsome. Unicron climbed into his lap, nuzzling his right hand.

"You're heavy....did you get some denser parts while I wasn't looking?" Starscream asked, jesting.

"N-no!" Unicron protested, flushing in exaggerated embarassment.

"I must just be tired."

Unicron lay in Starscream's lap, glad for this moment.

"I hear that some mech down on 6 Square is trying to teach chickens to swim."

"How silly..." Starscream said, too heavy and sluggish to think of more to say. He looked at the distant clouds, to the sky where he could be soaring, cutting through the air in joyous swoops and arcs. The sky seemed to draw closer.

Unicron continued to talk, about whatever was on his mind, about nothing in particular. No matter how much time passed, the sun still hung in the same place in the sky and the world remained eternally cloaked in gold. He looked off into the distance, at the shifting sky.

"Starscream?" he asked. But Starscream had already drifted off to sleep, head hung back, palm open and hanging over the armrest.

It started as a jagged patch in the sky, and then the distant hills. It seemed like holes were opening in the air. The peaceful scene was overtaken by noise: Blurring, stretching, pulling this way and that. A cacophony of colors and sounds that weren't right, weren't right at all.

The illusion world collapsed in a torrent of static.

Unicron found himself back, back in a dull pink chamber in his core complex. At the center of the room, Starscream lay, his once bright red coat dulling. A visor covered his face. Thousands of tubes and wires connected to a life support system that reached to the ceiling, hooked up to Unicron's body. Energon - his own blood - was slowly flowing from the ceiling into Starscream.

For millennia, he'd kept Starscream alive, feeding him fantasies. They'd lived in their fantasy world, happy together. But even his best efforts could only delay the winding down of Starscream's body.

Unicron knelt on the bed, holding his hand, watching the life signs on the monitor. He watched Starscream's spark pulse grow weaker and weaker until it dwindled to nothing.

He cut off the flow of Energon, switching off the machines and disconnecting the tubes and wires one by one. He removed the visor, so he could see Starscream's eyes - ruby red even in death.

For a long time he knelt beside Starscream, not saying anything. His spark felt heavy, like a drop of water perched precariously on a swaying leaf.

A single tear dribbled down his cheek, and then another  
He wiped his face, instinctively trying to hide the tears.  
A tremor of the lower lip, a clench of his tiny beetle fists  
It seemed like the two tears became a river, and his entire being was wracked with sobs - eery, flutelike shrieking and whistling.  
His wing-shells shook uncontrollably as he lay down on Starscream's chest and wept.

He lay in the chamber for a long while, alone with Starscream's empty body.

Finally, the minicon spoke.

"Good night, Starscream. I love you."

He placed a final, chaste kiss on Starscream's forehead, before climbing off the bed.

He blinked once, and then

Like vines, parts of the floor grew and encircled Starscream's death bed, wrapping him up in a hard cocoon.

"Good night forever."

This chamber - this place near Unicron's core, would be Starscream's eternal resting place. Unicron would keep Starscream inside of him until the remains crumbled into dust. Unicron would make this place beautiful, yes, just like the illusion world - a vined bower above, a bloomjng meadow below. Starscream deserved no less.

The minicon smiled, glancing at the the cocoon-coffin, keeping it in his mind's eye - ever watching.

His avatar vanished without ceremony, leaving only the sound of the planet's blood flowing through the room.

**Author's Note:**

> I suppose, perhaps, that Unicron could have copied his memories and placed them in a new body. Perhaps it was more complicated than he could manage. Perhaps he romanticizes mortality.


End file.
